Nutrition: per serving

Ingredients

Butter is made when lactic-acid producing bacteria are added to cream and churned to make an…

85g golden caster sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

225g plain flour

75g pistachios

75g dried cranberries

Method

Mix the butter, sugar and vanilla extract with a wooden spoon. stir in the flour, then tip in the pistachios and cranberries – you might need to get your hands in at this stage to bring the mix together as a dough. Halve the dough and shape each half into a log about 5cm across. Wrap in cling film, then chill for 1 hr or freeze for up to 3 months.

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. slice the logs into 1cm-thick rounds, place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake for 12-15 mins. Cool completely on the tray.

Recipe Tip

Make ahead

Well wrapped, these dough logs will happily
freeze for up to 3 months, meaning you
can include freshly made biscuits in your
Christmas hampers without any last-minute
effort. Simply defrost in the fridge overnight,
then slice and cook as above.

Ads by Google

Comments, questions and tips

A bit disappointing. I did slightly change this recipe as couldn't find cranberries, so I used barberries instead.
The taste was good but I agree with another reviewer that perhaps lacking just a little something? However, I felt that 15 minutes baking time was nowhere near long enough - I took them out and was a bit dubious but thought I'd leave them to cool completely to see how they'd turn out. Unfortunately, the texture was a bit doughy, not very biscuity, they were falling apart and really oily. I don't know if the softened butter, as stated in the recipe, is the reason for this as usually that's the culprit for oily biscuits but I did ensure the logs were chilled in clingfilm in the fridge for over an hour.
I put the biscuits in the oven again for another 9 minutes after cooling which gave a much better texture, but then meant some of the barberries were burnt! I might experiment with the recipe in the future but won't be using this specific one again.

SiNZ

17th May, 2016

3.8

Have to agree with using a little milk to get the dough to come together. Until I did that, it was too dry and floury to gel properly. Then it rolled into a cling film log easily and once you have your log, you can continue to roll the sausage shape to bring it all together more firmly. Then it cuts into discs very easily after an hour in the fridge. As for the cookie, I felt it needed something. Texture was good but the flavour needs a bit more sweetness or tang. Next time I think I will add some chocolate chips and perhaps some dried apricot too. Edit: tasting again after cooling, they taste much better and now I'm sold!

anjilynajolie

27th Apr, 2016

really lush, quite hard to bring together so used about a tbsp of milk to get it into a ball of dough. Tried with choc, hazelnuts (crushed with the flat side of a cheap knife) and sultanas and were really nice, and with just chocolate which were very moreish. Mine needed about 12 mins in the oven but they need an eye kept on them as they're easily under and over cooked. Freeze fine. Easily adapted.

Jules1909

3rd Apr, 2016

3.8

Very crumbly, it's maybe better to crush the pistachios to smaller pieces to avoid the cookies falling apart. Taste is nice though.

Sashabell10

8th Mar, 2016

5.05

Simple recipe, no food mixer required and not too sweet. Delicious and very professional looking . Used pecan and cranberry , match made in heaven

No - not melted. Maybe soft enough that you could spread, or cream with sugar

Sashabell10

8th Mar, 2016

5.05

Room temperature is perfect

jenclews

24th Oct, 2015

5.05

Lovely buttery flavour. I've made them with dried cherry and almonds, dried blueberry and pecan and all were delicious and a hit with the family. Before rolling into logs, make sure the ingredients are well incorporated or it will be a bit crumbly when you slice.

jonesjl

27th Aug, 2015

quick and really easy to make, got my dimensions slightly wrong so a bit smaller and more rustic looking to the picture however still taste lovely! Have just used a batch of mixture that I had frozen and works really well too. Will experiment using other nut/ fruit combinations.

Pages

Thanks for your question, yes the dried sweetened cranberries would be ideal.

GeorgieRose104

3rd Dec, 2016

Do these cookies expand much in the oven?

goodfoodteam

8th Dec, 2016

Thanks for your question. No these hold their shape fairly well when cooked from chilled.

LS1234

27th Dec, 2015

What did I do wrong?? Followed recipe but mixture would not bind at all and ended up adding some water to bind it! Useful sensible tips appreciated.

goodfoodteam

18th Jan, 2016

We think that your butter might have been a bit too cold. The butter and sugar mixture needs to be beaten together as though you are making a cake so it is soft and smooth before adding the other ingredients. Hope this helps.

sldavis85

3rd Feb, 2015

How long will these last once they've been defrosted and baked?

goodfoodteam

3rd Feb, 2015

Hi sldavis85, thanks for your question. These biscuits are best eaten on the day that they are baked but will keep in an airtight container for 3 or 4 days.

c_adon

15th Dec, 2014

How are you supposed to get 22 biscuits out of two 5cm logs if each biscuit is 1cm thick?!

goodfoodteam

17th Dec, 2014

Hi c_adon thanks for your question. The 5cm measurement refers to the diameter of each biscuit. The logs of dough should be around 10 or 12cm long which should allow you to cut each one into 10 or 12 slices. Hope this helps, let us know how you get on.

cookiemonster799

9th Dec, 2014

In my experience, you need to make the dough with very soft butter (makes it easy to shape) and chill in the fridge overnight or as long as poss. This makes the log easy to cut without having to chop the nuts.

MummyAbey

30th Aug, 2014

5.05

Try dipping half the biscuit in white chocolate.

hannahbakes

11th May, 2014

I've made these a few times now, both with regular flour and gluten free flour. For the gluten free flour it might appear more crumbly at first, but if you pop on some vinyl gloves and work it around in your hands a bit more it'll normally come together and you get some lovely short biscuits. If its too soft you'll end up with cookies that spread out and aren't short, so just add some more flour.

Reader offer: £10 off + 2 free craft beers

Skills & know how

As well as helping you decide what to cook we can also help you to cook it. From tips on cookery techniques to facts and information about health and nutrition, we’ve a wealth of foodie know how for you to explore.

About BBC Good Food

We’re all about good recipes, and about quality home cooking that everyone can enjoy. Whether you’re looking for some healthy inspiration or learning how to cook a decadent dessert, we’ve trustworthy guidance for all your foodie needs.

Our recipes

All our recipes are tested thoroughly by us to make sure they’re suitable for your kitchen at home. We know many of you are concerned about healthy eating, so we send them to a qualified nutritionist for thorough analysis too.

This website is made by BBC Worldwide.

BBC Worldwide is a commercial company that is owned by the BBC (and just the BBC). No money from the licence fee was used to create this page. The profits we make from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes.